Age Related Work Load – a Work Environment Intervention With a Life Course Perspective i Costa Giovanni

• A research project with a work environment intervention was carried out during one year in three hospital wards at a local hospital. The aim of the project was to increase the work ability of ageing employees by increasing the competence of all employees. The specific objectives of the project were: •to develop working organisations in order to increase their flexibility and thereby developing the work environment as well as reducing the costs; •to prepare for the forthcoming generational change by decreasing the risk of exclusion as well as making it possible to successively recruit younger persons; The methods used were: –education to increase the knowledge on how the life course influences the work capacity; –this new knowledge was to function as a catalysator for development in the working organisations; –the wards were to present a development programme concerning the working organisation; –after presenting the development programme the wards were given funding in relation to the existing age structure, to carry out the suggested changes and to recruit younger persons; The effects of the work environment intervention were analyzed in three parts. –the staff of the wards had to answer a work environment questionnaire before and towards the end of the intervention and the results of the questionnaire were analyzed. –the HR costs as well as the working time and sick leaves during the year before the project, the year of the project and the year after the project were analyzed. –the development programmes presented by the participating wards were analyzed. The analysis of the questionnaires showed that the experience of workload, the experience of ergonomic and psychosocial trouble and the experience of work stress had decreased at the same time as the experience of stimulation in the working situation and the experience of joy at work had increased during the project. It was however not possible to see any reduction in the HR costs or change in the working time and sick leaves during that could be connected to the project. The development programmes presented showed, with few exceptions, limited suggestions of changes to the working organizations. Work environment interventions to improve work environment and work health are complicated and work environment problems and work health problems are complex and influenced by many factors. One year is a very short time for an intervention, which aims at improving the work environment and work health. The importance of the experience of the staff of an improved work environment is however not to be diminished. The project shows that even if the directly measurable results of a work environment intervention are limited, you can gain further knowledge about the work environment in health care and the institutional arrangements that have contributed to the work environment problems in today’s health care and why it is so hard to improve the work environment.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Work environment

work ability

ageing workers

intervention study

hospital

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)